This invention relates to baking equipment and more particularly to such equipment in which lasers are used.
In the bakery industry, large scale baking of bread or similar bakery products is presently performed with gas ovens or ovens using infrared radiators such as lamps. A loaf of bread dough placed in one of these ovens is typically subjected to a 425.degree. F. temperature for twenty-five minutes and this not only bakes the bread, from the outside of the loaf inward, but browns it as well, as i.e., heats the outer surface sufficiently that a crust is formed. Unfortunately, bread baked in this manner tends to lose much of its moisture content during the baking process and this reduces the potential shelf life of the loaf, i.e., that period when the loaf is fresh enough to be sold in grocery stores, supermarkets, etc.
Another way of baking bread is to place it in a microwave oven and subject it to microwave radiation which bakes the loaf from the inside out. Bread can be baked in this manner in as little as seven minutes and this faster operation has the advantage of increasing the output of the bakery. Also, the loaf retains more of its moisture content which increases its shelf life.
A disadvantage of microwave baking, however, is that loaves do not brown when baked in microwave ovens but rather come out of the oven with a whitish appearance due to the lack of crust formation. This leaves the baker with the problem of having to produce a crust on the loaf so that he can continue to offer his customers a loaf of bread whose appearance is familiar to the customers and which they will continue to buy.